Mac book has become an excellent choice for every working person. Many have migrated from Windows to Mac book looking for a professional layout. But capturing different shots on the screen becomes very important while the usage of Mac.
As per the reports of Wikipedia, for desktops and laptops, Mac has the second largest share in the market which is 16%. As 16% of laptop and desktop users use Mac it becomes very necessary to know how to take screenshots on Mac so that the user can capture anything on the screen.
Although, screenshotting on Mac is not a great task it just requires a bit of technical knowledge. So, in this article, I have shared the best 3 ways to take screenshot on Mac along with it I have also given a procedure for some functionalities related to taking screenshots on Mac.
So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Is It Difficult To Take Screenshot On Your Mac?
You might think that the process of taking a screenshot on a Mac is more difficult than that of Windows or any other device. But it is not really like this, Windows just has a dedicated button which is “PrtSc” which makes this process easier.
But on Mac, there is no dedicated key for this but still, there are some keyboard shortcuts available which you will be getting to know in this article.
The keyboard shortcuts are always a bit complicated so an addon to this there are even different built-in ways to take a screenshot on Mac.
macOS has different built-in features and functions to take a screenshot so that a user doesn’t face any problems while capturing the screen.
So, there is no need of downloading a third-party app but still if you want to download external apps I have even guided you with that below as you read.
3 Ways To Take Screenshot On Mac Using Built-In Functions
As shared before, there are many ways to capture a screenshot on Mac in those I have short-listed the 3 best built-in functions that are different from each other and also have given the procedure below each way:-
1. Take Screenshot On Your Mac Using Built-In Command
You can even capture a screenshot on Mac by just using keys on your keyboard without entering much complexity of the system that is by using different menus and apps. This way is a shortcut command that requires the usage of three keyboard keys.
The three keyboard keys are the Shift, Command, and number keys. You have to just use these keys in the same order as given and even there are 3 different combinations of these keys to take screenshots of the screen as per the user’s choice.
Use the Shift+Command+3 to capture the entire visible screen as a screenshot and save it to your Mac’s storage. If you are willing to just capture a single portion in order to hide others then use the Shift+Command+4 combination and use the cross-hair mouse pointer.
You have to use the same keyboard shortcut combination that is the Shift+Command+4 to snap a specific Mac window or application the only difference is, instead of using the cross-hair pointer you have to press Space on your keyboard.
2. Use Touch Bar To Take Screenshot On Mac
It is not easy to remember all the shortcuts and use the combinations as per your needs but in this case, the Touch bar is the most preferable option as it is very to access and all important options can be used from here very easily.
To add the Screenshot option to the touch bar you have to follow a simple process. Firstly click on the “Apple Logo” at the top-right corner of the screen > Tap On “System Preferences” > In the second row click on the “Keyboard” option.
In this window, at the bottom click on the “Customize Control Strip” button and then click and drag off the “Screenshot option with camera icon” to the Touch bar and then tap on “Done”. To access it tap on the Screenshot icon and you will find here different options.
Along with the 3 different screenshot tools you also get an option to record your whole or a selected part of the screen. You can also customize your Screenshot options by clicking on the drop-down and “Options”.
3. Use Third Party Software & Extension To Take Screenshot On Mac
Thir-part software or apps are always helpful to do a particular process because they focus on providing a particular thing and give some addon to them. There are different software that you can get online at the Apple Store.
Like Capto, Snap It, Yac, iScreen Shotter, record it, and many more. All of these provide different functionalities that you will understand when you read the app’s review. In all desktops and laptops, the most common application is the browser.
Everyone uses a browser so there are even different extensions for the browser to screenshot the browser screen most of them support chrome.
You have to simply search the term Screenshot on the extension store and you will find many like Awesome Screenshot, GoFullPage, etc…
Take Screenshot Only For Selected Area On Mac
In the first way of capturing screen on Mac, we had shared some keyboard shortcuts so let’s get detailed into it.
To screenshot a selected area on your Mac, you have to use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Command+4 by holding it together.
Drag the cross-hair pointer while holding your space bar to select the portion of the screen you want to capture and if you want to abort it press the “Esc” key on your keyboard. After you select the portion, release the mouse and your screenshot will be saved.
How You Can Capture The Entire Window Of Your Mac?
To capture the entire window you have to use the same shortcut key that you used for screenshotting a selected area but the only difference is of use of the number key at the last.
So, to screenshot the entire window on Mac press and hold the Shift+Command+3 keys on your keyboard simultaneously and here you do not need to hold the space bar or drag the cross-hair section mouse pointer.
You will hear a camera shutter sound and wait for a few seconds and your screenshot will be captured and automatically saved on your Mac’s storage.
Customizing The Keyboard Shortcuts To Screenshot On Mac
Apple’s default keyboard shortcuts might not be that easier to capture the screen. So, Mac even has the option to change the default shortcuts key on your Mac by going to the Apple settings.
So, first of all, click on the Apple logo at the top-left corner of the screen > Then click on the “System Preferences” menu > Tap on the “Keyboard” option in the list of different icons, if you are not able to find then click on three-dots icon and “Show All”.
At the top click on the “Shortcuts” option > On the left pane tap on “Screen Shots” > At the right panel you will find the option to change the keyboard shortcuts.
The first option is “Save a picture of screen file”, which is the shortcut for saving entire screen’s screenshot.
The second option is to copy the entire screen to your clipboard. The third option, “Save picture of selected area as a file” is a keyboard shortcut that will allow saving the screenshot of a selected area.
The fourth option is the shortcut key for copying the selected area of the image to the clipboard. The keyboard shortcut must be unique and should start with a modifier like Shift, Option, Command, Capslock, Control, and Fn.
Where To Find And Change The Saved Screenshot On Mac?
After you click and save a screenshot the most important step is to access the saved file in order to share it easily. By default Mac stores all the clicked screenshots on the “Desktop” so you will find it easy to access the saved image.
If you have many images then prefer to move to a folder by selecting all of them. One tip, after you capture a screenshot whether it is an entire screen or a selected area.
If you press the Contol button on your keyboard then the image will get copied to your clipboard.
Now you can send it to anyone by just pressing on Control+V(paste) on your keyboard. If you want to change the location of the saving a screenshot, then simply press the shortcut “Command+Shift+5” and click on “Options”.
Under the Save to the menu, choose any predefined location to save your screenshots, or else click on “Other” to choose a different location on your device.
Wrap Up On Take Screenshot On Mac
This post was practical and informative. After you take a screenshot you might need to edit it, so there is even a default feature to edit the taken screenshots on Mac so you don’t need to go online or download external software.
After you click each screenshot, there will be a shutter sound and even you will find a thumbnail of your screenshot which you can edit by clicking on it.
I hope you found this post very helpful. If you have any queries or issues regarding how to take Screenshot on Mac then kindly write a comment to use in the comment box and we will reply to you back very sooner.
FAQ: Take Screenshot On Mac
While researching this topic on the internet to give you the best possible ways that will solve your issue regarding screenshotting on Mac I found many commonly asked questions by people so, I have answered some of those below:-
Q1. Is there any snipping tool for Mac as Windows provide?
Ans: Unlike Windows, Mac does not have a specialized default app as a snipping tool but you can use the same feature by pressing Shift+Command+5 on your keyboard. Here the mouse pointer turns to the cross-hair section.
Q2. Is there a way to take screenshots on Mac with just one button?
Ans: No, there is no specialized key for screenshots on Mac but in alternative to that you can add the screenshot tool to your touch bar as mentioned in the post or else use different shortcuts.
Q3. Does apple provide a way to crop the screenshot before saving it?
Ans: To crop the screenshot, you can simply use the selection area command, or else after capturing your screen simply click on the thumbnail and edit or crop the screenshot.
